[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 23, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5161-S5162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ISRAEL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on another matter, tomorrow, the 
Capitol will welcome Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the 
democratically elected leader of America's closest ally in the Middle 
East to address a joint meeting of Congress for the fourth time.
  It is a pivotal moment for the United States-Israel alliance and for 
Israel's war against savage Iran-backed terrorists. This is an 
existential conflict for Israel, but it is also a test of America's 
reliability and a challenge to the entire free world.
  I look forward to hearing the Prime Minister's remarks. 
Unfortunately, some of the leaders who could learn the most from the 
experience of the battle-tested, duly elected leader of a sovereign 
democracy apparently will not be among us.
  The Vice President, who traditionally presides over joint sessions of 
Congress, apparently can't spare the time to demonstrate even symbolic 
support for the only democracy in the Middle East.
  Of course, Israel deserves more than symbolism. It deserves the time, 
space,

[[Page S5162]]

and material support to guarantee its security and defeat the 
terrorists who started this war.
  But no matter how many times I say it, no matter how many of our 
colleagues affirm Israel's right to exist, no matter how sternly the 
President insists his commitment to Israel is ``ironclad,'' America's 
actions speak otherwise.
  The administration's policy toward Israel has often compounded the 
challenges our ally faces. It has withheld critical military assistance 
and tried to micromanage Israel's military operations.
  Washington Democrats have struggled to forcefully condemn the scourge 
of anti-Semitism and terrorist sympathy running rampant across 
university campuses and throughout the American left.
  Instead, they have indulged the mob, engaging in grotesquely 
hypocritical efforts to meddle in Israeli domestic politics and call 
for the removal of its democratically elected leader. And this is just 
in the past 9 months that the Commander in Chief's failure to deter 
enemies of Israel and America is a debacle years in the making. The 
chaos fomented by Iran and its proxies across the Middle East is no 
surprise when you consider the seeds this administration has sown:
  Desperation to return to a failed nuclear deal told Iran that it, 
once again, held leverage over America. Rescinding the Houthis' 
terrorist designation told Iran-backed groups that America isn't 
serious about imposing consequences for their savage violence. A 
humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan invited allies and adversaries 
alike to question America's competence and America's resolve. Failure 
to respond decisively to Iran-backed strikes against American 
personnel, interests, and partners across the region told the world's 
most active state sponsor of terrorism that the world's only superpower 
was unwilling to act like one.
  Today, America and our partners are reaping the consequences of the 
Biden administration's weakness. This weekend's deadly strike in Tel-
Aviv was the latest in more than 200 Houthi attacks on Israeli soil 
since October 7. Is it merely a coincidence that this attack landed 
just yards from a U.S. diplomatic facility?
  The same terrorists are holding global commerce hostage in the Red 
Sea and happily trading thousand-dollar drones for million-dollar U.S. 
Navy interceptors.
  They have concluded--correctly, it seems--that waging war on America 
and our interests is a low-cost proposition. And this isn't the 
calculus of some autonomous terrorists. We are talking about a campaign 
coordinated by the master terrorists in Tehran. As one Hezbollah field 
commander told a reporter recently, ``The Iranians want us to escalate, 
so we are escalating. . . . The Iranians control every bullet we 
have.''
  The sworn enemies of the Great Satan and the Little Satan are 
emboldened. They are wreaking havoc on America and Israel for pennies 
on the dollar. And they are working with Russia, China, and North Korea 
to challenge the American-led order all around the world.
  Just as core U.S. interests are at stake in Russia's war against 
Ukraine, they are at stake in the Middle East as well. Tomorrow, as on 
numerous occasions in our history, Congress will hear from a close 
friend of America on the frontlines against this global effort to 
undermine the American-led order.
  Prime Minister Netanyahu deserves our attention, and Israel deserves 
a friend that lives up to the name.

                          ____________________